"I was a bit ill last week, but I started anyway. I shouldn't have done that" - Tibor del Grosso regrets the choice to start in Boom despite illness

Tibor del Grosso has been a Dutch cyclocross revelation since the beginning of 2023. The rider from Groningen won his first U23 World Cup in Besançon at the beginning of this year and came second behind Thibau Nys at the U23 World Championships, but after a transfer to Alpecin-Deceuninck he hopes to do even better in the short and long term.

And it appears to have been a good move for Del Grosso, as he found no match in his first two U23 World Cup appearances. Last weekend, he made his first appearance in elite category in Boom, where he finished 13th. "It was bad," Del Grosso tells In de Leiderstrui. "I was a bit ill last week, but I started anyway. I shouldn't have done that."

The transfer to Alpecin-Deceuninck is certainly good for the future of Del Grosso, who is also competitive on the road. "It's great. It's really the step I needed, I think. You have a larger, broader framework here, although I of course also had a very good time at Metec. But I'm glad I made the transfer."

He probably didn't expect that he would emerge like this in his first crosses. "I was actually at the front at the end of last season last year. I hoped to do that again now, but it was certainly surprising that it went so well from the first cross," says Del Grosso, who expects to get no room to breath in upcoming U23 World Cup races. "It is not up to me to declare myself the favorite, but I will be watched."